The Book and Dagger Drabble Collection
by checkablelas
Summary: It seemed to be Nadia's new life mission. Kill the Archdemon. Make Leliana blush. Not necessary to complete in that order. This is a Drabbles collection of Nadia Surana and Leliana and their growing romance through all of the games.
1. Chapter 1

They could see the light coming from the docks, even this far away. A woman cradled a small child to her chest and as silent tears poured down her face, she didn't bother to wipe them away as they fell. The man beside her, her husband and Keeper, held back the tears trying to be strong for his wife and child. The small group paused before they could leave the tree line, taking one last moment to hug their child and try to stop the tears.

"Ir abelas, ma vhenan" The man spoke to his child, stuttering through the words and a tear finally falling down his face.

"Little one, you must go to the shems."

"Why, Mamae? They don't like me, they make fun of my ears." The little girl was scared. Papae always said to stay near the araval and not talk to the shemlen.

"It is very important that you do this for us. Go to the man in the armour. Tell him that you have magic, and he will take you somewhere safe."

"No , Mamae. I want to stay with you!" But it was too late. The pair had already leaned forward to press a kiss to her forehead. Her mother turned and ran, not looking back again as her daughter screamed out for her. The humans at the docks had already turned towards the woods, hearing the screaming of a child and had started to creep towards their position. The father leaned forward one more time to give his daughter his farewell.

"May Sylaise watch over you, Nadia." There was a moment where everything was silent, not a creature around could be heard. Then there was the crackle of lightning as it shot towards the templar standing at the docks.


	2. The Harrowing

The Harrowing

All Nadia could think of was _why now_? Her face still stung from the vallaslin, dear Sylaise it had taken her ages to find someone willing to perform the blood writing ceremony. Just because the shemlen knew it as Blood Writing did not mean that there was blood magic involved. Luckily for Nadia, the tower had just 'taken in' a young man who had been training to be a Keeper. The templars had been outraged when they awoke to find the elven population of the tower covered in ink.

 _Was this why they had dragged her out of her bed in the dead of night?_ The Fade had welcomed her as it always did, with sweet invading thoughts of the bliss she could live in if she only said yes. Being ripped from the dreams and temptations was always staggering and it took a few minutes to finally distinguish reality from the Fade.

When she eventually found her footing, and took notice of where the Templars lead her, their journey was upwards. After three flights of stairs, the ominous doors of the Harrowing Chamber stood in front of her. Cullen opened the doors, looking just as nervous if not more so than her. _This must be his first Harrowing. No worries Cullen, I won't make you kill me._ Nadia shrugged away from the Templars, trying to regain a little of her dignity before she entered.

Apprentice mages were not allowed into the chamber before their Harrowing. No one wanted to be there, the Fade was weak here and it let demons whisper in their minds while they walked. Too many had died here, holding a demon in their body or lost in the Fade and the forced entry sent ripples out into the Fade, pointing them at their next meal. Knight Commander Gregor stepped forward as Nadia approached them, spouting his Chantry ideals. It was not hard to drown him out, fifteen years of listening to him babble about a god that Nadia did not believe in made her near immune to his stoic nature. First Enchanter Irving had always been kind to Nadia, the older mage almost taking her under his wing as she grew up in a place where none of her Gods could be found. Still in her night clothes, the Enchanter encouraged her to approach the lyrium and descend into the Fade. She approached, half asleep and hearing whispers of promised bliss and an end to her pain.

Cullen

For a long time Cullen had dreaded his first Harrowing. He almost envied the mages, they need only go through this once and then they continued on with their lives, granted more privileges and less watching. But the Templars? They watched over and over as mages rose and fell, simply awoke or as their bodies mutated into something horrible to be sliced down without thought.

There was a rumor in the order, that new Templars in the Circle were brought into a Harrowing that was more than likely going to fail. Many saw this as a test, could they really do what was needed to protect the children of the Maker? Cullen had prayed that this was not true as he watched them drag the elven mage up the stairs. He knew this woman, she was always kind to the Templars and the other apprentices, even though they pushed her away for trying to stay true to her beliefs. They dragged all of the mages to services in the mornings, and though she never disrupted there was a cold fury in her eyes as the sisters repeated the chant and spoke of her gifts as a curse.

Now, time had passed and the only thing to have happened was a twitch to her brow, and Cullen recognized it. It was a tell the woman had that signified that a solution was eluding her, and that her mind was set on fixing the problem. But more time had passed, with nothing other than her shallow breathing giving away that she still lived.

"Irving." That was all the Knight Commander said, but it was his tone that brought shivers down Cullens back and made his hair stand on edge.

"Give her time, Gregor. This is not a test that can be passed with ease." The First Enchanter placed himself between the girl, Nadia if Cullen remembered right, and Gregor.

"This is a test that she never should have taken!" The Commanders rage made Cullen flinch and glance towards the mage again. "She has always been your pet." The Commander calmed, placing a hand on the Enchanters shoulder. "Her magic is too kind, healers almost never make it through this test and you know that. She is too trusting and accepting of what is placed in front of her." The two men continued to trade words, Irving trying desperately to prolong her time.

But Cullen did not know which would be worse. To watch her become an abomination, skin ripping apart and demonic voices filling the chamber as they fought to protect those mages still asleep bellow. Or to approach her as she stood glass eyed, hand in the lyrium to slice off her head and watch it roll at his feet, still red from her tattoos and waist length hair trailing behind it like a morbid veil.

Then suddenly, the room was quiet. Everyone turned to look at the elf, whose hand had lifted to scratch beneath her eyes. Then she let out a long, low moan of pain as her eyes opened. The Knight Commander had drawn his sword, as did the two templars in the room. The commander approached her from behind, before she turned, a harsh look in her eyes.

"Last I checked, it was considered a sin to kill a mage who passed their Harrowing Knight Commander." Nadia turned to glare out at the room, shocking Cullen as that cold rage he remembered being stored away was unleashed on the room.

"Of course." Gregor sheathed his sword, the sound not even phasing the young elf.

"I would like to return to my rooms now." Cullen opened the door, watching her slip out and down the stairs followed by the other young recruit and wondered if his jealousy of the Harrowing was misplaced.


End file.
